he ever particularly noticed. He liked sailing in it, and then, besides,
there was one of his officers there, who had travelled in other
countries in Europe where people had ships and navies, and he told Peter
what great advantages they gained from them, not only in carrying goods
from place to place, but in transporting armies, and fighting their
enemies at sea.

"Peter thought a great deal about this, and when he went back to Moscow,
which was then the capital, he inquired and found that there were some
people from Holland there. He asked them if they knew how to build
ships. Some of them said they did. Then he asked them if they could not
build him some small vessels, just like the Dutch ships of war. They
said they could. So he made a bargain with them, and they built him
several.

"Do you know how many?" asked Mr. George.

"Not exactly," replied Rollo. "There were several small vessels, and I
remember that there were four frigates, and each frigate had four guns.
I don't suppose the guns were very large."

"Four guns is a very small armament for a frigate," said Mr. George.

"Yes," replied Rollo, "very small indeed. But you see, Peter did not
want them for real service, but only for models, as it were."

"And what did he do with them, when they were done?" asked Mr. George.

"They were launched into a lake there was in that part of the country,"
said Rollo, "and there the emperor used to sail about in them, and have
sham fights.

"But all this, you must understand," continued Rollo, "took place two or
three years before Peter drove the Turks off from the southern part of
his empire, so as to get to the sea. And it was not till then that he
began to have real ships built of large size. And now, when he was going
to Holland, he of course remembered the old Dutch yacht which he had on
his pleasure grounds, and the small frigates which they had built him,
and the large ones too, which they had built for the boyars, and he felt
a great interest in going to see the ship yards. He determined that
while he was in Holland he would spend as much time as he could in
learning all about ship building.

"It is very curious about the emperor and his company's entering
Amsterdam," continued Rollo. "When the government there heard that he
was coming, they made grand preparations to receive him. They got the
cannon all ready on the ramparts to fire salutes, and drew out the
soldiers, and all the doors and windows were crow